These Easy 3-Ingredient Lemon Bars Are Bursting with Flavor

Photo byA Latte Food

This lemon bar recipe has been described as "crazy easy" and it's true. If you've got a can of lemon pie filling, a box of yellow cake mix and a stick of butter, you can make these bars in about 15 minutes. There's no measuring and clean-up is minimal. The result is a delicious dessert with a crunchy bottom layer, a lemony center and a light, buttery topping.

I like this version of the cake-mix-hack recipe because it's similar to traditional lemon squares. The bottom layer tastes a little like shortbread, which makes a nice contrast with the soft tart filling. If you want to up the sweetness, sprinkle the bars with powdered sugar just before serving them.

I've also made the 2-ingredient cake-mix version (which skips the butter) and while it's delightful, it doesn't have any layers and is more cakey.

3-Ingredient Lemon Bars

Ingredients

1 (15.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix

1 stick salted butter (1/2 cup), softened

1 22-ounce can lemon pie filling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8-inch or a 7 x 10-inch baking pan.

2. Beat the dry cake mix and softened butter with a hand-held electric mixer or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mixture should be crumbly.

3. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cake mixture for the topping and press the rest onto the bottom of the pan.

4. Spread the lemon filling across the bottom layer with a spatula and sprinkle the remaining crust mixture onto the top.

5. Bake for about 48-50 minutes, until the top begins to brown. Cool fully before cutting (about an hour).

Notes

I've made this recipe in a 9 x 13-inch pan, baking the bars about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. It does work--i.e. it tastes great--but the bars are very thin.